Airport licenses mandatory from July 2011

No airport in the country would be able to undertake any air transport services from July next year if it is not licensed by the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) by June 2011-end.

A notification to this effect has been issued by the government, as the DGCA continued inspections and safety audit at airports across the country to grant licenses to airport operators, including state-owned Airports Authority of India.



As per the notification, no person would operate scheduled air transport services to/from an aerodrome from June 30, 2011, unless it has been licensed by DGCA.

Therefore, an aerodrome which has not been licensed can continue to operate without obtaining the license up to June 30 next year as per this legal provision, an official spokesperson said here on Friday.

There are 63 airports which are to be licensed, including 53 operated by the AAI. The rest of them, including those in Delhi, Mumbai, Cochin, Bangalore and Hyderabad, are owned either by the private sector or joint ventures.

While DGCA has issued Initial Licenses to 15 airports, it has inspected 14 more for issuance of licenses. The regulator has so far received applications for licenses from 15 airports, while there were 23 more which are yet to submit such applications.

Apart from these airports, there are 22 defence airports which have Civil Enclaves where civil aviation operations take place, the spokesperson said, adding that the issue of licensing of these airports has been taken up with the Defence Ministry.

Besides these 63, there are around 24 airports in the country which are used for scheduled flight operations, handling of passengers and cargo.

In view of this large number of aerodromes to be licensed, a phased approach was adopted by the government under which priority was given to licensing the international aerodromes in the first phase.

The licensing procedure for airports was initiated as part of the standards notified by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Maintaining that all licensed aerodromes were being operated by “adequately trained personnel and in accordance with the regulations based on the standards of ICAO,’’ the spokesperson said all airlines could be assured of the highest level of safety at the international aerodromes.